Edmonton Real Estate Blog

Spring is advancing and now is an incredible time to put your Edmonton home available on the Edmonton MLS listing. Before you pounce on the market, there are some finishing touches you ought to consider  to make your home much more important once it hits the MLS. One of the most ideal approaches to expand your Edmonton home’s estimation is to make it all the more tastefully satisfying, so get your most loved devices or approach an expert to offer assistance.

Here are a portion of the least demanding and best overhauls you ought to considering doing to kick your home deal off:

Paint the outside

The outside of your Edmonton home needs to be remodeled the most since its the first thing that potential purchasers will see. Whether your home looks a bit dismissed or antiquated, a crisp layer of paint will have an immense effect in its appearance. Nonetheless, you have to be exceptionally particular. Excessively striking shades will probably accomplish more damage than great. It might be best to repaint your home in a shading that supplements encompassing homes.

Redesign entryways and windows

Poor entryways and harmed windows accomplish more than simply hurt your home’s control offer, so provide for them a redesign. Vitality productive windows are ended up being phenomenal options on the grounds that they help lessen service bills over the long haul, and they make the indoor environment more agreeable and cozy.

With respect to your entryways, you ought to supplant them with advanced ones that are more powerful. Such entryways will go far to making your home more secure and outstandingly engaging.

Take a shot at the yard

Purchasers truly do enjoy a well-kept yard, so take measures to improve the presence of the grass. In the event that the grass is not doing so good, consider setting down fake turf – it will look astonishing and supplement the yard in a huge manner. Your other choice is to remove any dead plants or unattractive arrangements. You can undoubtedly inhale new life into your yard by beautifying it with mulch, trees, bushes and outer surface lighting installations.

Supplant the carport

On the off chance that the garage is loaded with breaks and oil spots, there are a few ways you can redesign it so that its more appealing. You can either have it repaired or supplanted. Ordinarily, nonetheless, it would bode well to supplant the garage in light of the fact that it won’t be troublesome for potential purchasers to see the patches.

Enhance the state of the top and the establishment

On the off chance that there are any structural defects in your home, you can rest guaranteed that they can be found by an expert examiner who won’t dither to open them to potential purchasers. Accordingly, you should take measures to guarantee that the top and the establishment are in place. To help you get ready for your home review, look at these 10 absolute necessities on your home examination agenda.

Clean the inner part and the outside

It won’t cost much to clean up the home, however it will oblige an enormous exertion on your part. The objective is to guarantee that everything is in its legitimate spot.

Dispose of any additional disorder inside to keep preoccupations in the home to a base. Concerning the outside, make a point to gather up bicycles, toys, stray shoes, pointless grass enhancements and some other sort of jumble.

By finishing these 6 straightforward overhauls, your home will be fit as a fiddle. You can hunt down a specialists close you on our site or let us do the looking or you!

Fitting support of your HRV is critical to the unit’s life span, to hold vitality expenses down and above all, to keep up the indoor air quality for your loved ones.

Check out Certified Master Inspector, Dave Watson’s tips and tricks on how to properly maintain your HRV.

(click on the image to access the video)

Organizing an Edmonton home available to be purchased is basically setting up a house to be sold. There are various perspectives to organizing, yet there is a straightforward establishment to every last bit of it.

Procuring an expert stager is justified regardless of the venture on the grounds that they address all parts of arranging. Be that as it may imagine a scenario in which you have no arranging plan.

There are a few steps you can take to stage your Edmonton home available to be purchased — and a hefty portion of them don’t cost a dime. Here are five free things you can do to set up your Edmonton home to offer.

Clean!

The most obvious thing individuals consider while in a house is whether they trust it is clean. A home that is totally flawless shows too looked after.

Clean all windows all around. Clean all entryway edges, light installations, roof fans and blinds. Don’t leave a solitary spot in your home untouched. Potential purchasers look all over, so verify the whole home is clean.

Depersonalize the house

Pack up pretty much all individual photographs and family mementos. On the off chance that you have an extraordinary photograph of your family getting a charge out of an outdoors excursion or other family movement, you can forget it on presentation if your house is being showcased to families. This one family photograph plants a seed of satisfaction in a purchaser’s psyche, making them think how content their own family could be existing in the home.

All different photographs, representations and mementos must be pressed away out of perspective — and in a perfect world, put away outside the home. All in all, family photographs and souvenirs attract a purchaser’s consideration regarding your family and keep them from seeing your home as their potential home.

You’re not offering the family, you’re offering the house — so dependably let that be the inside of consideration.

Pack — and pack some more

You could most likely live agreeably for a brief time with about a large portion of the things you possess, particularly on the off chance that you have existed in your home for more than a couple of years. We every one of the have a tendency to gather things. Whether we utilize them or not doesn’t make a difference, however what does make a difference is showcasing the space your home brings to the table potential purchasers. You can’t showcase rooms that are loaded with stuff — particularly a lot of furniture.

Pack up as much as you can live without, then store it offsite if conceivable. Store pressed boxes and additional furniture conveniently far from living spaces regardless. On the off chance that you need to store things in the carport, make certain you leave enough space for an auto.

Beauty treatment on outside spaces

Open air living is currently a piece of regular life for the greater part of us. Potential purchasers will totally consider the open air spaces as discriminatingly as they do indoor spaces. In the event that you don’t have the financial backing to rouse the scene with blossoms and enhancing things, you can in any case verify the yard is splendidly manicured.

Keep your yard watered, and slice grass to more or less 3 inches high. Any shorter detracts from the new green look, and any more begins to look unkempt.

Foliage ought to be extremely slick and appropriately molded to match your neighborhood. Trim the trees so that a 6-foot-tall individual can without much of a stretch pass under them. This makes the trees show up taller, and gives the yard a clean, clean look.

Force wash the walkway, yard, deck, garage and wall. You will be astonished what a distinction this will make in the look of your home.

Lighten up

At the point when indicating or shooting your home for potential purchasers, open each visually impaired and blind in your home, and turn on every light. Indeed the lights over the stove and inside the broiler ought to be on. (Keep in mind, the apparatuses are flawless — they have to be flaunted!)

Purchasers are searching for “light and splendid,” not “dull and troubling,” so provide for them light. Help them perceive how clean and decently administered to your house is. Don’t be hesitant to move a light to light up a space on the off chance that you have to. May there be light — and parts and heaps of it.

It can be a considerable measure of work getting your home prepared to offer. Indeed with no arranging plan, you can in any case take the time to roll out a couple of improvements that will have a significant effect on your Edmonton home for sale.

To find out what the latest trend is in Edmonton home staging, check out our new and improved Edmonton MLS listings.

With home value increases abating in many parts of the nation, Edmonton home sellers will be searching for approaches to get top dollar for their posting. Cleaning and arranging have an enormous effect. Yet for a few dealers, for example, financial specialists looking to bring an Edmonton property up to neighborhood benchmarks before the deal redesigning work may be the ticket.

As the 2015 Renovating Expense versus Quality Report makes clear, substantial scale occupations aren’t liable to return Edmonton home sellers their full cost. At the same time there are enhancements worth doing in reckoning of an up and coming deal. Some will return just about 100 percent of their expense. Others might not have as awesome a payback, yet they can enhance the business sector position of the Edmonton property in connection to the opposition. (Consider the effect of delightful kitchen photographs on online Edmonton home customers.) also, a few pricier undertakings can furnish managers with a couple of years of pleasure while as yet offering a not too bad payback not far off.

When in doubt:

More straightforward, lower-expense tasks have a tendency to return more prominent quality. The national normal expense for a steel entryway substitution was $1,230, for instance. That is the slightest extravagant extend on the rundown, and it positions most elevated on the payback scale, giving back 101.8 percent broadly by and large. Truth be told, in 43 of the 102 business sectors overviewed, REALTORS® said the new entryway would recover more than 100 percent of its cost. Different tasks anticipated that would beat 100 percent payback in various markets: the midrange carport entryway substitution, the upscale carport entryway substitution, the midrange wood window substitution, and the minor kitchen redesign. Notice an example? Except for the kitchen occupation, they’re all substitution ventures. All in all, substitutions cost less and give a greater payback than redesigns or augmentations.

Early introductions are vital. The substitutions that offer the best payback are the ones that are most evident to purchasers when they first view a house in individual or on the web, for example, new entryway or carport entryway. Siding substitution likewise gives extraordinary worth at resale—especially the current year’s one new extend, produced stone lacquer,  which is required to recover 92.2 percent of its cost broadly by and large.

Kitchens still offer the most renovating value for the money. The main renovating occupation softening into the main 10 up terms of payback is the minor kitchen rebuild with a national normal expense of $19,226 and a national normal payback of 79.3 percent.

Main 5 undertakings broadly as far as expense recovered:

1. Section entryway substitution (101.8%)

2. Fabricated stone polish (92.2%)

3. Carport entryway substitution mid-range (88.5%)

4. Siding substitution, fiber concrete (84.3%)

5. Carport entryway substitution upscale (82.5%)

Expect greater adjustments in the West. Notwithstanding reporting national midpoints, Redesigning magazine separates Expense versus Esteem information by Enumeration locale. In the Pacific area which incorporates The Frozen North, California, Hawaii, Oregon, and Washington—six undertakings are relied upon to main 100 percent payback. The closest contender is the East South Focal district Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, and Tennessee—where two activities are required to main 100 percent payback.

Exactly how much dealers can hope to recover from home changes relies on upon the occupation and the district of the nation they live in. There are additionally considers that fluctuate from house to house and deal to deal, for example, what overhauls are commonplace for the area, the nature of the work, and how vital the change is to a specific purchaser. Keeping in mind you can’t make a difference this information straightforwardly to any particular house or neighborhood, you can utilize the Expense versus Worth Report as a beginning stage in discourses with purchasers and venders about the expense and benefit of renovating.

Check out our complete list of available newly renovated Edmonton homes for sale at our new Edmonton MLS listings.

Great! The point that you’re reading this article means you’re really interested in boosting the profit you’ll get out of your Edmonton home once it’s sold.

This might be common sense but still a lot of people don’t fully understand the benefits of providing improvements to their home before listing it to the Edmonton MLS. Simply put it this way, doing home improvements would help sell your home at a faster rate than the competition-and of course for a higher selling price!

Glorious things can be achieved by doing simple things.

Here are a few things you can do what definitely pay off big time!

NEW PAINT: Simple yet effective, providing a new paint job would brighten up the property. It will give off the effect to potential home buyers that the property is brand new. Keep the colors as relaxing and inviting as possible.

LIGHTING: This will complement the new paint. Rooms could be enhanced by installing good lighting fixtures. Double check all the lights inside your home for any issue. You would not want faulty lighting when the Realtor is showing your house.

Save energy by using LED light bulbs. This simple improvement will show the home buyers that the house is built to conserve energy.

LIVING ROOM: As the single most used room inside the house, it is important to keep this place as de-cluttered as possible. You can also rearrange the furniture to have that ‘open-space’ effect.

Keep in mind to make your home buyers wish that they live in there themselves, make them comfortable, and make them love your place.

BEDROOMS: Create an intimate ambiance by replacing the curtains, place candles and use perfumes.

KITCHEN & BATH: These two areas of the house are the most frequently used by the home buyers-not necessarily the kids. With that in mind, keep it simple, stage the kitchen by placing fresh fruits and flowers. A good trick to pull off when there are home buyers to check out the house is to bake a cake, the aroma of a freshly baked cake would stir feelings of coziness.

For the bathrooms, make it smell like those in the hotels. Also, take time to replace toilet seats and shower curtains.

All the small details count in this endeavor, so do your best to clean the property and make it look appealing. As they say, first impressions last!

Get inspiration from the newly listed homes for sale on the market, check out our new Edmonton MLS listings and once you’re ready to sell, give us a call, we’ll be glad to help.

Oftentimes, renovating an older home comes with surprises beyond the control of contractors and home owners. There are times that hidden expenses lurk beyond old walls.

When it comes to forecasting costs, new constructions are much more controllable.

Bear in mind that the process of renovating and improving your Edmonton home should be planned with a budget that is less than you can really afford. Your contractors would have contingency plans as well to cover the mistakes that they “may” have committed.

Yes! Nobody is truly perfect so you can be sure that your chosen constructors would run into problems they might not have foreseen.

That best way to actually get a grip of the actual cost of renovation or home improvement is to get bids from three local firms. Getting the figures from other people is a good plan to get a gauge of how you would have to spend.

Once you get a good picture of the cost, it is to your best interest to provide a buffer of at least 20% additional budget to cover any other surprises.

As a homeowner, you could also use the approach taken by commercial constructions, this is by asking the constructors to bid on a guaranteed max with a shared savings contract. Your builder will provide you with all the construction expenses, overhead costs and gains. Once the project is done, both of you will share in the savings. It is a great way to incentivize contractors to do their work more cost effectively.

It is highly important that you and your chosen contractors have a transparent working relationship. Both of you needs to be on the same page as to who is in charge to decide when to proceed when new costs arises.

Good communication together with your contingency plan in the finances of the project would be your best bet to having a successful home improvement or renovation.

Visit our Edmonton MLS listings for a great list of new homes for sale in Edmonton and nearby areas.

What does it really take to make a home green? Whether you’re thinking of selling your Edmonton home for just planning to make some renovations, converting to a green home would have tons of benefits.

There are currently six broad categories that could be used to measure or see if your home is truly green. Your home must fit all these categories in order for it to be considered as green. Let us discuss it one by one.

1. WATER EFFICIENCY: 260 gallons is the typical water consumption of a household every single day. Using water saving structures and landscapes at home such as containers for holding rain water properly could reduce the amount of water consumption and ultimately save you more money.
2. ENERGY EFFICIENCY: The point of having an energy efficient home is to minimize the environmental impact. Advances in technology have provided improvements in building elements and construction techniques that allow energy saving equipment such as solar panels to be seamlessly integrated into the overall house design.
3. BUILDING MATERIALS: The use of environmentally friendly building materials is at the core of turning regular homes into green ones.
4. INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY: These category enhances the lives of the inhabitants and significantly increase the resale value of your home.
5. LOCATION: Large percentage of home energy consumption is linked to the location of the family’s home. A walkable community would be a thriving and sustainable place that would give you and your neighbor’s safe transportation and improved quality of life. Although you might not change your community, keeping this in mind in some way could and would help you in future decisions if and when you’re going to buy another home.
6. SUSTAINABLE SITE: Last, but not the least is the site. Complementing number 5, there’s a shift in land development and design that leans towards conservation and restoration of natural systems. This is just for you if you would be redesigning the landscape of your backyard or front porch.

There’s a wide variety of green options out in the market if you’re renovating your Edmonton home or building a new one.

As we have said in our previous posts, the value of your home could jump up a few zeroes higher if you convert your home into a green one. Check out the green homes for sale at our Edmonton MLS listings to get some inspirations. Good luck!

It’s been almost a mythical belief that the best time to sell an Edmonton home is during spring and summer season. That is most certainly not true. Although, selling in spring and summer poses “some” advantages, listing your home today would be one of best strategies you could do.

It is possible to sell your home quickly and for a better price this off-season due to a shortage in inventory. Remember, most Edmontonians are busy preparing for the holidays so there are few competitions out in the market!

During the spring and summer time, there’s an influx of newly built homes so that gives buyers more options, which in turn could force you (or the other sellers) to reduce the selling price.

Again, to emphasize, the off-season will provide you with less competition. Yes, we needed to underscore that part. Most people hibernate by this time of the year, some would just choose to watch the Edmonton Oilers game (like Serge and Dan) rather than sell their homes so all the odds are within your favor!

Lastly, off-season buyers would love it when they know and see for themselves that your most cherished house have been performing terribly well against damaging weather conditions; heavy rains, freezing temperatures.

Pick-up your phone and call Team Leading Edge now at 780-634-8151 so we could start selling your home.

We don’t need the ‘Nights Watch’ to remind us that winter is coming. As Serge puts it “I would just like to indulge for a moment and think of Edmonton with more than 2 seasons – winter and construction season.”

Since almost everybody now is in the winter state of mind, we at Team Leading Edge would just like to conduct a friendly reminder to those who have yet to prep their homes for winter. Winter is no laughing matter so better take this seriously if you would like to experience another awesome holiday.

LEAKS!

Leaks have a special place in our hearts so it is but appropriate to put it first on this list. Leaks can make your life miserable so checking it should be on the top of your priority list!

10 to 15 percent of your hard earned money would be wasted if you have an improperly sealed home. The most effective way avoid this wasteful consumption of energy is through caulking and weather stripping. Doors and windows are the main culprit for leaks, do a thorough inspection on all your doors and windows and caulk all holes you see to prevent heat from escaping.

MAINTENANCE!

To keep your heating system at 110% performance, equipment maintenance is the most important thing to do. Failure to check your heating and cooling systems from dirt would result in an under-performance and might possibly ruin your equipment.

A licensed contractor would be your best friend in time of need so it’s best to schedule a fall check-up with him.

HEATING!

Okay, we want to emphasize the importance of your heating system come winter time. DO NOT let October pass without checking and making sure that the heating system is working to its fullest.

Test run the heating system by cranking the thermostat to 80 degrees, this should turn the furnace on and let warm air circulate within minutes. If and when this doesn’t happen, you can try to check where the problem is coming from through your gas furnace troubleshooting guidelines (I do hope your furnace came with that). If you wouldn’t want to fix it yourself, a gas furnace technician would be your best bet in fixing the problem.

THE PIPES!

If you’re from Edmonton, busted pipes in winter isn’t a ‘new’ thing, still, this doesn’t mean you have to let it happen this coming winter! Nope! Nope! Nope!

Having your pipes burst would surely cause huge household damage, the best way to prevent that is through pads. Cover exposed pipes in unheated areas like the attic and basement with tubular pipe insulation sleeves. Cover every inch of exposed pipe including joints and bends, once done, duct tape would be enough to help you seal the seams.

THE WINTER STORM!

It’s better to be safe than sorry. That would prove to be a lifesaver in case of a winter storm. Rule of thumb, always have an emergency kit that’s fully-stocked ready. The emergency kit must consist of warm clothes, blankets, water, non-perishable food, battery-powered radio (yup, don’t rely on your iPhone!), meds, pet food and of course a first aid kit. Three to five days worth of stock would be perfect in this kind of emergencies.

So, there you have it, simple reminders to get you prepared for winter. Following these won’t consume much of your precious time, do it now. Carpe Diem!

Check out our new and improved MLS real estate listings for the best winter ready home for sale in Edmonton.

Thinking of adding more value to your home or you just want it to simply look awesomely good? We got the good stuff for you! Team Leading Edge gathered the 5 simple tips and tricks to help you execute your home reno perfectly.

THINK AHEAD OF TIME

Knowing what you want and deciding what you need to do a head of time will help you avoid those excruciating delays-time is gold my friend!

Having planned ahead would also help your bottom line. You’ll know what the cost would be and can make those necessary adjustments in your cash flow as to not impact your other expenses, in other words, budget!

INFORMATION IS POWER

Home renovation does have the possibility of ending up in a mess and giving you and your family headaches due to the potential inconveniences that it poses. A simple way to avoid this is to inform your family of all the reno plans, from the top to the bottom and preparing them for it. With simple preparations, the whole family can adjust their schedules to accommodate the renovation process. Reno work might start from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm, so you may want to bring the kids back home after 5 or since the living area might be a bit dusty, you may want to take your family out for dinner.

REMEMBER THE FILTER

As we have said, the reno work could be dusty so it is best to check and change the air filters during and after the whole work. Worst case scenario would be having the HVAC system damaged because of the heavy dust particles. Avoid this costly mistake by simply changing the filters.

IF YOU’RE DOING THE KITCHEN

If you still don’t know, improving the kitchen is one of the most cost effective way to drive up the value of your home once you are ready to sell. Replacing the kitchen counter top can be the most affordable and be made in a short span of time.

LAST BUT NOT LEAST, KNOW YOUR CONTRACTOR

Unless, you’re a contractor yourself (which is cool) you may want to double check on the background of your chosen contractor. Don’t just be impressed because the contractor was referred to you by your friend, do your own research and try to find out the contractors previous projects-this will give you a snapshot of he’s quality of work.